Mommy and Monsters
by baconfaced
Summary: Peter Bishop tells his young daughter something about her mother. Spoilers up to 4x22.


Etta doesn't know this place. It's dark and damp and everything is made from concrete. Etta was shivering from the cold before Daddy pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his coat around her. Sometimes Etta still shivers, but now it's because she's scared.

Daddy told her to sleep, but she can't. He hasn't read her any stories or sang her any songs and Mommy isn't here. Sometimes neither of them are there for her bedtime, but then Auntie Astrid or Grandpa tuck her in. Auntie Astrid always sings her pretty songs, but Grandpa likes to tell her stories about the monsters Mommy and Daddy fight. Mommy and Daddy always beat the monsters.

Do they want her to fight a monster now? She is almost four, after all. She's a big girl. Maybe that's why Daddy brought her here.

"Daddy?" she whispers as quietly as she can. "Do I have to fight a monster?" Grandpa always says Mommy and Daddy aren't home because they have to fight the monsters.

Daddy glances down and her and smiles, but quickly raises his eyes. Etta thinks he might be keeping watch like that soldier in the movie she wasn't supposed to see.

"Of course not, sweetheart," Daddy tells her. "I'll keep you safe from any monsters."

That's a relief, but there's still so much to be afraid of. "Where's Mommy?"

Etta feels the rise and fall of Daddy's chest pause for a moment. Then Daddy's warm hand cups her face to make sure she looks at him. He isn't smiling anymore, and instead has that serious look on his face that means Etta better listen to him.

"Mommy will be here soon," he says, with no room for argument. "She's going to meet us."

"I want her here now," Etta says, trying not to whine. Daddy says whining doesn't get you what you want.

"So do I, sweetheart," Daddy says, and drops a kiss to the top of her head. Then he moves her over to one side of him so he can pull something out of his other pocket.

"Did Grandpa ever tell you about Mommy magical powers?" he asks as he grasps something in his hand.

Etta's eyes widen. Grandpa had told her stories where Mommy did magical things, but she had never really believed him. Mommy was always just a normal Mommy. Etta scoots around and sits on Daddy's knees so she can see his face, to see if he's lying. "Grandpa said Mommy once saved you from a monster by controlling the sparks that come out of the wall."

"That s electricity," Daddy says. "And it s true. She used electricity to make a monster let me go."

Etta can't help but be glad Mommy's powers are not just any silly thing Grandpa made up.

Daddy hands her what was in his pocket. It's a shiny necklace, like something a princess would wear. But instead of a glittering diamond it has a weird piece of metal hanging on it.

"Before you were born," Daddy says. "Actually, when your Mom was pregnant with you, there was a monster that tried to steal Mommy's magic powers. But your Mommy wouldn t let him, so the monster got angry. And Mommy was shot."

Etta gasps. Getting shot could kill you!

"This is the bullet," Daddy says, pointing at the smushed up piece of metal. "It went into Mommy s head. That would kill most people, and for a minute I thought she was dead. But Mommy didn t want to die, she wanted to stay with you and me. So she used her powers to heal herself."

"Really?"

"Really," Daddy holds up a hand and puts the other near his heart, something he does when he swears he's not lying. "I always keep it with me so that I remember that your Mommy can face anything. And I think you should have it now."

"I should?" Etta asks, going a bit cross-eyed looking at the necklace as Daddy slips it over her head.

"Yes. It will remind you that, no matter what monsters get in her way, your Mommy will always find her way back to you."

* * *

Etta squeezes the old bullet between her fingers as she stares out of the train window. After twenty years, just feeling it reminds her that, no matter what the others say, the original Fringe team is special, is powerful. She may no longer believe in fairy tale monsters, but she believes what her father said.

She's still waiting.


End file.
